Charles alkins



C. ALKINS.

RAIL BEACH. A

No. 365,222. Patented June 21, 1887.`

UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

CHARLES ALKINS, OE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HENRIETTA ALKINS, OF SAME PLACE.

RAIL-BRACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,222, dated June 2l, 1887.

Application filed Novcmbrr 2, 1880.

T0 all whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES ALKINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inV Rail-Braces, of which the following is a specification.

rIhis invention relates to railvbraces adapted for bracing the rails of a railroad, particularly at frogs or switches or at points where bends or curves occur in the road. These braces are constructed with a base portion adapted to be spiked down upon a erosstie or other appropriate bed, and with a solid abutmentrising from said base portion and adapted to fit against the rail.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide a strong and durable and at the same ti mea comparatively light construction ofrailbrace; second, to lessen their cost by reducing the amount of metal heretofore incident to solid rail-braces without dctracling from the strength and durability of the brace; third, to provide alight, strong, economical, and effective construction of brace adapted for application to the rail at a point where a spike for holding down the rail is driven into the cross-tie, and to provide a construction which shall admit of the braceabutting against a rail in a manner to su pport and strengthen the rail, to hold the rail down upon the erosstie, to effectively brace the rail against lateral force exerted laterally against the saine, and to receive and cover the spike, which is driven into the cross-tie for the purpose of engaging the base of the rail.

'Io the attainment of the foregoing ends my invention consists in matters hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

A railbrace constructed in accordance with my invention may be either struck up of wrought or malleable iron or steel, or it may be made ofcast iron, steel, or malleable iron, or other suitable metal, it being immaterial whether'the brace is cast or struck np from the metals hereinbefore specified or from any other suitable or desirable metal, so long as the prominentl features of form or construction hereinafter particularly referred to are preserved.

Serial No. 217,815. (No model.)

In my application for Letters Patent iled in the United States, and serially numbered 210,510, I have shown and described a metal raitbrace involving the more prominent features of construction found in the brace forming the subject of this application; but in said first-mentioned application my claims are limited to the method of striking up the brace to a particular form of blank and to a struckup metal brace having certain distinctive features, good and sufficient reason being therein shown for making said claims. In this application, however, I desire to be understood as not confining myself either to the mode of making` the brace or to a struclcup metal brace, but claim the form or construction of the brace as involving the production of a new and improved article.

In the drawings, Figure l represents a vertical section taken transversely through a rail and longitudinally through the railbrace constructed and applied in accordance with my invention, said view also including a portion of the cross-tie. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of said rail-brace, and Eig. 3 is a transverse vertical section thereof, taken on the line .r x of Eig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side view of a portion of the brace.

In said drawings the rail-brace is formed with a base, A, and with a hollow abutment, B, which rises from the base, and which is adapted at its highest end to fit against and is provided with a seat, b, for engaging a portion of the tread of a rail.

The base A consists ofan oblong plate, which at one end is turned up to some extent, in order to provide its under side with the upwardly-inclined seating portion a, which rises from the horizontal under side seating portion, c, of the base-plate, the said inclined seating portion a being adapted to seat and snugly it upon the base portion of the rail, while the base portion c of the brace is adapted to seat and fit upon a cross-tie, as in Fig. l, wherein C indicates a section of an ordinary rail, and D a portion of a cross-tie.

The hollow abutment B rises centrally from the oblong base portion of the bracethat is to say, it rises along aline between the two opposite longitudinal side edges of said base A. ln cross-section the hollow abutment is proxi- IOO mately of an inverted U or V shape, as best illustrated in Fig. 3, wherein lthe section is taken at a point vback of the seat b, that is formed at what may be termed the forward as well as the highest end of the hollow abutment. This construction serves to provide a long hollow abutment,which is in effect arch shaped, and which,while dispensing with the amount of metal that would be required if it were solid, is nevertheless strong and durable. The hollow abutment slopes downwardly from its high end at which the seat b is formed toward the rear or opposite end of the brace, the sloping surface along the top side ofsaid abutment terminating at its lowest point near the rear end of the base of the railbrace-as, for example, at or near the points b', Figs. l and 2.

The base portion of the rail-brace is for a portion of its length divided by the oblong` coneavity of the hollow abutment, which division commences, for example, substantially at or near the point b and continues to -the forward end of the brace, it being seen that the side walls, b, of the hollow abutment unite with the base portion at opposite sides ofthe space or eoneavity within the hollow abutment.

Thehollo'w abutmentcan be further-strengthened by vertical flanges or .ribs b, formed at opposite sides of its forward end, which said ribs merge at their lower ends into'the forward portions, a, of the base. The forward inclined portions of the base of the rail-brace converge somewhat toward the forward end ofthe brace, in order to adapt them to set sufficiently close up to the rail, it being observed that by reason of the inclination of the upper side ofthe base of the rail the brace would strike the railbase too near the edge thereof if the inclined portions a were squared at their corners. It will also be observed that t-he saidinelined portions a of the base of the brace are somewhat curved near their union with the horizontal portion of said base, whereby .they are particularly adapted to fit the edge of the base of a rail.

The base of this railbrace is provided at suitable points between its ends with openings a2, for spikes or the like, which can b e employed for bolting the rail-brace down upon the crosstie, and at its rear end the base of said rai1- brace is provided with an opening or notch, a3, for another spike, which can be employed,

abutting face portion of the part or parts a of the base of said brace incline upwardly, as hereinbefore specified, whereby the said seating or abutting face portions of the brace constitute, inelfect, a wedge at the forward end of the hollow abutment, the portions a of the sides of the hollow abutment being in the nature of anges uniting with the abutment and with the main body of the base of the brace, which said flanges partake of the upward in clination of the lower edges, b4, ,of the hollow abutment illustrated by the sectional view, Fig. l. By such arrangement I provide a railbrace having a hollow abutment rising from a base and formed with a wedge-shaped abutting or seating end, which can be wedged in between the tread and the base of a rail, and which also receives a portion of the lower edge corner of the tread of the rail, as clearly indicated in said Fig. l.

A further advantage of the hollow abutment is that it will receive or straddle'a spike eniployed to bolt the rail down upon the crosstie, this being also illustrated in Fig. 1,wherein the `head of the spike E employed to bolt down the rail is shown inclosed and covered by the hollow abutment.

What l claim as my invention is l. A rail-brace having a hollow abutment rising from a base, substantially as described.

2. The rail-brace provided with a hollow abutment rising from a base,and havingits forward abutting end wedge-shaped and adapted to lit against the tread and base of a rail, sub stantially as described.

3. The rail-brace having the hollow abutvnient B, rising from a base and provided with IOO 

